Biography
Ludmil Krumov began playing piano at age 6 in Svishtov (Bulgaria) where he was born and raised. He grew up in a musician’s family – his father was a saxophonist / trumpeter and provided his son with a music environment from the very beginning of his life.
At age 14 Ludmil began playing guitar. His first influences were rock bands like Scorpions, Metallica and guitarists such Joe Satriani, Gary Moore, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen.
He came a long way from playing with pop, blues, rock and dancing entertainment bands, to getting interested in fusion, such as the Electric Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Weather Report, the bands of guitarists Mike Stern, Frank Gambale, John McLAughlin etc.
In 2001 he was accepted to Berklee College of Music Boston. He won the B.E.S.T. award for original composition.
In 2003 he was accepted to the Prince Claus Conservatorium / Groningen / The Netherlands. There he studied guitar with Anton Goudsmit, Winfried Bouma, Ron Jackson, Martien Oster, Frank Wingold and Fredie Bryant. From these teachers he got a lot of information about the be bop language and the jazz approach to guitar playing. All of those people introduced him to their own unique style and he gained a lot of inspiration from them.
Along with that he had classes and ensembles with the American guest teachers in the school – Conrad Herwig, David Berkman, Brian Lynch, Ralph Peterson, Sam Burtis, Don Braden, Dena De Rose, and Steve Davis. His personal contact with these top - class New York musicians, gave him an opportunity to experience the real attitude of jazz and its derivatives.
Last couple of years Ludmil got interested in experimentation with his own roots music – The Bulgarian Folklore and its integration to jazz. He is trying to develop his own style by mixing Bulgarian Folk music and Contemporary Jazz by taking the elements that make the Bulgarian folklore one of the most sophisticated on the planet – the odd time signature rhythms and ornamented melodies and put it together with the harmonic concept, form, and improvisational approach from contemporary jazz and jazz-related styles to form a sort of hybrid style, that has a lot of directions to develop towards and he is trying to be open minded a let any influence to find it’s place in the music.
Besides pure improvisation, Ludmil is very active in composing and arranging music for different ensembles.
Currently Ludmil Krumov is continuing his music education in the Master program of the Rotterdam Conservatory.